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Who is this American president? He “stoops to gain the favor of the majority, but when he feels his popularity is secure, he overthrows all obstacles in the pursuit of the objects which the community approves”.

No, it’s not Donald Trump, but Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States of America, from 1829 - 37, as described by his disapproving contemporary, the historian Alexis de Tocqueville. Jackson was the first subject in Trump: the Presidential Precedents , a series running daily on Radio 4 all week. I recommend it strongly.

An undated portrait of the seventh U.S. President Andrew Jackson, (1829-1837)Credit:
AP

The presenter is historian Adam Smith, the producer is Phil Tinline and the theme is the “zigs and zags” that outgoing US President Barack Obama perceives...